The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for St. Louis was up 2.0 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that prices for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent over the year, and food prices increased 3.0 percent. Energy prices advanced 1.0 percent. 

BLS did not collect survey data for October 2025 due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data. For a few indexes, BLS uses nonsurvey data sources instead of survey data to make the index calculations. BLS was able to retroactively acquire most of the nonsurvey data for October. Accordingly, all analysis in this release is over the year and not seasonally adjusted.

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, December 2022–December 2025

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Dec 2022	6.2	5.0
Feb 2023	5.9	4.8
Apr 2023	4.2	4.6
Jun 2023	3.1	4.8
Aug 2023	3.1	3.7
Oct 2023	3.1	3.8
Dec 2023	2.8	3.6
Feb 2024	3.6	4.8
Apr 2024	4.0	4.2
Jun 2024	3.4	4.3
Aug 2024	3.3	4.1
Oct 2024	2.6	3.5
Dec 2024	3.1	3.4
Feb 2025	2.0	2.2
Apr 2025	2.2	2.9
Jun 2025	2.5	3.0
Aug 2025	2.6	3.2
Oct 2025	-	-
Dec 2025	2.0	1.8

The food index rose 3.0 percent over the year. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 4.2 percent, while prices for food at home (grocery store prices) advanced 2.0 percent. All six major grocery store food group indexes were up over the year, led by cereals and bakery products (+5.8 percent) and fruits and vegetables (+3.7 percent).

From December 2024 to December 2025, the energy index advanced 1.0 percent. Over the year, the gasoline index declined 4.8 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent over the year. Components contributing most to the rise included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+2.1 percent), education and communication (+4.6 percent), household furnishings and operations (+5.5 percent), and apparel (+8.3 percent). The indexes for lodging away from home and public transportation fell over the 12-month period.

The Consumer Price Index for January 2026 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 7:30 a.m. (CT).

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Consumer Price Index for St. Louis is published bi-monthly. The set of components and sub-aggregates published for regional and metropolitan indexes is more limited than at the U.S. city average level; these indexes are byproducts of the national CPI program. Each local index has a much smaller sample size than the national or regional indexes and is, therefore, subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error. As a result, local-area indexes are more volatile than the national or regional indexes. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. NOTE: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The St. Louis, MO-IL, area covered in this release includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

Refer to the national CPI news release technical note or the Handbook of Methods for more information.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. St. Louis, MO-IL, CPI-U by expenditure category for December 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from:
	Historical data	Oct. 2025	Nov. 2025	Dec. 2025	Dec. 2024	Oct. 2025	Nov. 2025
All items		-	-	291.208	2.0	-	-
All items (1967=100)		-	-	864.935	-	-	-
Food and beverages		-	-	342.719	2.7	-	-
Food		-	-	343.890	3.0	-	-
Food at home		-	299.326	301.702	2.0	-	0.8
Cereals and bakery products		-	261.923	267.999	5.8	-	2.3
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		-	300.673	294.363	0.2	-	-2.1
Dairy and related products		-	190.905	190.641	1.8	-	-0.1
Fruits and vegetables		-	443.298	452.262	3.7	-	2.0
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		-	227.524	233.638	2.4	-	2.7
Other food at home		-	314.859	317.336	0.4	-	0.8
Food away from home		-	-	416.873	4.2	-	-
Alcoholic beverages		-	-	294.746	-0.9	-	-
Housing		-	-	293.885	2.5	-	-
Shelter		-	351.162	350.023	1.4	-	-0.3
Rent of primary residence		-	321.614	320.873	0.2	-	-0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)		-	369.614	368.911	2.1	-	-0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(2)		-	369.614	368.911	2.1	-	-0.2
Household furnishings and operations		-	-	148.319	5.5	-	-
Apparel		-	-	144.622	8.3	-	-
Transportation		-	-	244.314	-1.9	-	-
Private transportation		-	-	249.326	-1.4	-	-
New and used motor vehicles(3)		-	-	117.282	-0.1	-	-
New vehicles(1)		263.242	-	261.919	0.6	-0.5	-
Used cars and trucks(1)		409.466	-	401.812	2.0	-1.9	-
Motor fuel		-	267.008	261.821	-4.3	-	-1.9
Gasoline (all types)		260.678	261.328	256.033	-4.8	-1.8	-2.0
Unleaded regular(4)		249.289	249.925	244.689	-5.0	-1.8	-2.1
Unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		324.398	325.393	319.899	-3.7	-1.4	-1.7
Unleaded premium(4)		285.305	285.839	281.769	-2.9	-1.2	-1.4
Medical care		-	-	533.609	1.0	-	-
Recreation(3)		-	-	137.903	1.3	-	-
Education and communication(3)		-	-	152.672	4.6	-	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)		-	-	1,465.805	3.5	-	-
Other goods and services		-	-	400.341	2.3	-	-
(1) Index is on a March 1978=100 base. (2) Index is on a November 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
- Data not available. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. NOTE: The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

Table 2. St. Louis, MO-IL, CPI-U by special aggregate index for December 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Special aggregate index	Indexes				Percent change from:
	Historical data	Oct. 2025	Nov. 2025	Dec. 2025	Dec. 2024	Oct. 2025	Nov. 2025
All items		-	-	291.208	2.0	-	-
Food		-	-	343.890	3.0	-	-
Energy		-	297.767	257.310	1.0	-	-13.6
All items less food and energy		-	-	290.743	1.8	-	-
All items less energy		-	-	298.128	2.0	-	-
All items less medical care		-	-	279.034	2.1	-	-
All items less shelter		-	-	273.077	2.2	-	-
Commodities		-	-	228.527	2.3	-	-
Commodities less food		-	-	180.345	1.8	-	-
Commodities less food & beverages		-	-	175.658	1.9	-	-
Durables		-	-	121.076	4.2	-	-
Nondurables		-	-	288.521	1.8	-	-
Nondurables less food		-	-	240.133	0.2	-	-
Nondurables less food & beverages		-	-	234.815	0.3	-	-
Services		-	-	356.101	1.7	-	-
Services less rent of shelter(1)		-	-	370.897	2.1	-	-
Services less medical care services		-	-	338.351	1.7	-	-
(1) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base.
- Data not available. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. NOTE: The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.